Film breakdown: Two mental mistakes on the Falcons' opening drive led to a TD

The Falcons-Eagles game yesterday got off to a terrible start from the opening possesion. On two separate 3rd down plays, the Eagles made mental errors that led to a score.

Early in the drive, on 3rd and 10 from the Falcons' 37 yard line, Jason Babin was rushing from the left side, and Falcons RB Jacquizz Rodgers "chipped" him to help the right tackle with his block. Babin and Rodgers are circled:

After chipping Babin, Rodgers leaks out in the flat, and Babin follows him in coverage. Rodgers is probably QB Matt Ryan's 4th progression on this play. Presumably, he has nothing open down the field. (There won't be better views of this play until sometime around Thursday, when the NFL typically makes the "All-22" footage available). Some light pressure forces Ryan to roll to his right, where he decides to get whatever he can by checking it down to Rodgers:

Babin has close coverage, but holds Rodgers as the ball is thrown:

"Defensive holding, #93, first down, Falcons." Whenever a defensive end is forced to cover running backs or tight ends, people are quick to note that being in coverage is outside of his comfort zone. Still, Babin has to know better here than to hold the receiver. Even if Rodgers catches this pass he's only two yards beyond the line of scrimmage (with eight to go) and Babin can either make the tackle, push him out of bounds, or at least slow him up until help arrives. This is Babin's 9th year in the league. Defensive end, linebacker, safety, whatever... Babin is a football player and has to have better awareness than this, no matter what his position is.

The next play we'll highlight was the Falcons' TD on the opening drive. Andy Reid had the following to say in his post-game press conference on the play after being asked if it was a busted coverage:

"It wasn't as much as a busted coverage as we needed a soft (coverage). We were bailing on that."

By "bailing on that," Reid means that the Eagles were in a coverage in which the defensive backs were supposed to get depth, keeping everything underneath. That's not what happened.

The Falcons called a play where they fake a quick screen to Julio Jones:

They get the defense to bite up on the quick screen in comical fashion:

Current Comments

Nice work, Jimmy. Both were egregious mental mistakes. If they get off the field on the Babin play, the tone of the game changes. Atlanta doesn't use half the 1st quarter on its opening drive, the D gains some confidence with an early stop, and the offense has the possibility for decent field position on its first drive.

Posted By: Jason Hutt | Oct 29, 2012 1:08:06 PM

Damn, I have been preaching these exact words all day @ work 2day... Of course, the falcons fans here are not trying 2 hear it; but the truth is the truth! If we get off the field in that instance, totally different outcome! Good post!
~EAGLES4LIFE

Posted By: Roc | Oct 29, 2012 6:52:45 PM

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